My first expectations for this course was to learn more about the social aspect of human services, and my end learning results were ok. I feel as though being in this class I would have benefited more from taking this course in an actual classroom as the whole point to learning the social aspect of human services is to actually be social. I think maybe if I were in an actual classroom, there would have been maybe field trips or group projects. There was a lot of useful information throughout the book, some chapters were over whelming as they seem to just drag on about some subjects.

I don’t think I achieved all the information I wanted to obtain as I was very distracted this semester with having a high-risk pregnancy and then having a baby in the beginning of November, so trying to stay focused throughout was difficult. I was more rested and interested in the course in the beginning, verses the last few weeks and till now with hardly any sleep and I have slacked off a few assignments by mistake by simply forgetting what day it is and falling asleep. I do however enjoy the writing blogs and working with the portfolio though it took some time to get used to.

My attitudes haven’t changed about taking this course, I expected some topics would be hard to discuss such as aggression and social influences on a person as some areas about these topics hit close to home, but in this line of field I know that social psychology plays a huge part in human services field. If I had to take the class again, which I know I did poorly this time around due to my situation, but if I had to repeat, I would take the course in a classroom where I could stay focused. I feel as though I have grown to realize the importance of staying focused in school. One skill I feel as though I have gained through this course would be to listen more when in the company of others or in a social setting and since I have children, one 15, one 7, and one new born, I’ve learned to be a bit more patient with them and take time to hear them when they speak. I feel as though it is extremely important to learn to be patient in any human services profession.

I chose this picture because despite all the obstacles I had to build enough will power to  challenge through this semester as I almost skipped taking classes this fall, I pushed through and toughed it out. Though my grades are not where I want them to be, I’m not giving up. Some areas I had to measure what was most important as I didn’t take the time to study as I was distracted with life, and I missed out on a few assignments, but not forgotten the class. I have learned that I need to look ahead and think about the pros and cons before taking on the responsibility of signing up for classes in a given semester. I didn’t think it would be this hard to juggle so much life all in one semester.

I find some truth in this article. I am a very self-aware individual and I notice a lot of things that most people wouldn’t put pass them. I also pay close attention to my surrounding in which out in public, I will see mostly people, strangers going about their everyday lives and I will study their facial expressions and how they act in public. Point being is after reading this article I can see much of the readings to be accurate. Prior to consummation both men and women will lie or pretend to be something they are not to attract a mate or even convince them that they like one another, but only to get sex without the other person realizing. You will see this mostly at bars and clubs, but also in work places and in schools. After the relationship has formed, I do see mostly women playing the jealousy card more so than the guy. Women tend to over react as men seem to be more laid back and don’t care what their partner is doing because most guys, I know want that alone time, so they could careless what they are doing. After a break, up I do see both sexes can become stalkers and unable to except the break up. I still think it’s more women who will stalk more so than the guys, but I could be wrong. I just know personally how women can be, specially when jealous.

In my experience, men don’t purposely go out their way to make a woman mad, they unknowingly do and then after the fact wonder what they did wrong. Like men will talk to other women in front of their partner and to her it may seem like flirting, but to him he’s just casually talking.  Women will not leave men list for things to do, rather tell them and expect them to remember, but most men tend to forget to do the things she asked thus making her mad. Some other examples would be leaving the toilet seat up, leaving laundry on the floor next to the dirty laundry basket, or forgetting to pay bills.

Again, in my experience women will purposely go out their way to upset the men. Like a test to see how they will react. Women will constantly call or text a guy to annoy him. Women will purposely start stupid arguments again to see how he will react or to show him whose boss. Women will also embarrass the man in front of others, even in public not thinking how it would affect him, as she is going out of her way to embarrass him as women find it amusing, but of course most men find it upsetting, annoying, and making him angry.

The relationship between self- regulation and emotional intelligence is that when they both work together, they can achieve self-awareness and calmness throughout the body when in a stressful situation or in a fight or flight response. What emotional intelligence means to me is that once you make your self aware of your inner emotions, or why you feel a certain way when in a fight or flight response, then you can decide to take control of your inner mental state. You can calm your self down and relax your mind or even trick your mind into thinking you can take control of your emotions and not let them win you over. I was a long time suffer of anxiety and panic attacks. I had had trouble breathing my whole life and never knew why till I was 31 years old and finally a doctor told me I needed to have nose surgery to correct my breathing problem. But, before I even knew I had a breathing problem, I took it as “Oh my gosh I can’t breathe” and I would panic because I couldn’t catch my breath. An example I can think of hundreds where I have had to learn to listen to my mind and think smarter than my anxiety. One that comes to mind is I was driving along on our busy Virginia beach interstates and all of a sudden a whole line of cars just started slamming on breaks in front of me and at a high rate of speed I had knew there was no time to stop so I swerved over to the next lane without hesitation, not even thinking to look to see if there was another car there, luckily there wasn’t and my heart was racing so face I couldn’t catch my breath I decided to pull over the side of the road. As I began to panic, I tried calling anybody and everybody to help calm me down and of course no one would answer. So, I sat and took deep breaths and thanked myself for thinking so quickly as it could have been a terrible accident. After a few minutes of telling myself to calm down and taking deep breaths, my heart calmed down and my hands stopped shaking and I was able to continue on my way. I first panicked and didn’t stop to think to calm myself down as I was looking for someone else to talk my nerves down. As quick as everything all happened, I am glad I was able to pull off the side of the road and after about 10 minutes calm myself down.

My reaction to this video is that is it very out dated and not relevant to today’s society as much as she portrays it to be as it was back then over 30 years ago. Things have significantly changed. Yes there are some ads or commercials that still show beautiful women as it seems beautiful, flawless women attract many, but not nearly as much as it did back in the day. Now ads and commercials include biracial couples, transgenders, gay and lesbian families, and everyday normal people.This young girl seems to be promoting makeup and though we do not do these types of ads anymore, we still have little girl pageants in which they wear reveal clothing and wear heavy makeup as adult women do.

This ad is telling us that men see women as more beautiful creatures when taking care of their skin and keeping it moisturized.

This is one particular ad that you will still see today and in commercials. Skinny, beautiful women and young sexy looking men portraying to take diet supplements to get this look that you see in the ads. Most of us know it’s fake, but there are those that dream of having that perfect body and see these ads and afterwards go out and buy the product only to find out for themselves that the product is in fact a gimmick.

We do not see ads like this anymore however, models are still starving themselves to fit the perfect female image they think society is looking for. Now we see models of different race, size, and have unique facial features, such as having big gaps between the teeth, or shaved heads, and some with deformities. In today’s world, all women are beautiful as I see women with down-syndrome, or missing limbs modeling for big top agencies and I think that’s a beautiful and wonderful thing.

This women does look like a mannequin or wearing a mask and back then women did wear a lot of makeup to wear they look fake. Now, women still do wear a lot of makeup, but there’s so many how to you-tube videos and tutorials that women will spend hours upon hours in getting that perfect face but they don’t look as fake, but have more of natural look, kind of.

Picture A represents a credible source because it has listed the name brand in bold letters, it advertises why this pictular toothbrush is sensitive with it’s ultra soft bristles. It points out all the features that makes this toothbrush extra special and it also gives a short paragraph to educate the consumers as to why and how this toothbrush was made for sensitive teeth and gums. There is also a picture of a dentist at the bottom and next to him it states it’s the number one brand recommended by Dentists.

Picture B represents a non-credible source because it is not explaining what is going on in this advertisement. It is leaving us drawing a blank as to what this ad means. Is the actor telling us he using this particular credit card? Is this actor telling us not to use this credit card? Or is it simply just telling us he has money and good credit to get a credit card with this company? So this ad is lacking the purpose of either supporting the actor or supporting the credit card. You would assume just seeing this that this actor is in fact telling us to sign up and use this particular credit card as he must use it, but there is no statement from him to tell us otherwise or tell us if it is so.

Picture C is a attractive advertisement as it clearly makes a point to impress anyone who’s looking for a great deal. The “Make it a POINT to SHOP!” in Big huge letters lets you know now is the time to save money and shop with them. Then the huge 20% is sure to catch anyone’s eye when flipping through sale sheets and this colorful, bright, and big bold lettering is very attractive to the eyes that it will draw the attention of anyone looking to save. Also as a bonus at the bottom and tells you it will triple your points which would leave with more savings and will have you keep coming back.

I did extremely poorly on my first exam as I missed 20 questions. Sadly, I was not prepared for the exam as I did not take notes. That is my down fall when reading chapters, I only read through and glance at the vocabulary words. Though I have much going on in my personal life right now, I procrastinated and waited till a few days before the exam is due to review over the chapter and I stressed over how much information there is to go over right before the exam is due. To help better understand the questions I missed, it would more helpful to see the rest of the multiple answers I could choose from when reviewing the test to see which answers would be the correct one. Also, I’m used to having the ability to take an exam twice. As in previous courses, I was always given 2 attempts to take a test or an exam. So I was hesitate in taking the exam but again I procrastinated and waited till the night of to take it and felt over whelmed with not being as prepared as I was. Seeing how badly I did on the exam I think I should take the review process a bit more seriously as the exams are a huge part of our grades.

I consider myself as a unique music lover. I love all types of music. Think the only type I can think of that I dislike is country music and hard-core rap music. I have no favorite type of music. I feel like my large variety sets me apart from everyone else I know because most of my family and friends who I know their taste in music, they will normally stick to just one type. My mom only listens to country, my sister only listens to R&B and rap, and as for my boyfriend will only listen to old school rap and reggae. I think music can bring people together or it could mean different things for different people. Like I can not understand reggae at all. I’ve tried, I can’t even make out any of the words that they are saying, but my boyfriend can. He tells me the meaning and stories behind the songs in which it helps me understand what the song is about, but I still can’t understand what they are saying.

I think music can bring a certain type of bonding relationship to stranger’s who can relate to the same type of music, not like a cult per-say but more like an understanding to their reasons to liking certain types of music or the artists themselves. Like at concerts, people won’t normally go just for a good time and to get drunk, they will spend the money to see the artists they really like or are passion about their music. I think everyone interpretation about artists, music, and songs is different. But of course, you can play a cool hip-hop song to a bunch of 1^st graders and they will all dance to it. Then there’s the songs that people can relate too or associate a song to a certain memory that takes them back in time. In the past I had many ups and downs and have associated many songs to what was going on in my life at that time. Now ah days to not risk reliving the pain I have endured, I choose not to listen to certain songs as they will take me back to sad memories that I wish to not relive.

My Soundtrack:

My youngest son – Thunderstruck – (AC/DC)

This song reminds me of my youngest song because he rocks out every time he hears it and has stuck a love for this rock band.

My boyfriend – 3 Little Birds – (Bob Marley)

When I first met my boyfriend, he expressed his love for reggae and his favorite artist in which I knew nothing about this type of music.

Both my children – Silent Night – (My own version)

I sang this to my first son, as I sing it to my second son. This song is both their favorites.

My oldest son – You are my Sunshine – (My own version)

I have this memory of him humming this song to himself to sleep when he was 2 years old.

My grandmother – White Christmas – (Bing Crosby)

Every year my grandmother would wish for a white Christmas and this happens to be her favorite song.

My grandfather – Blue Christmas – (Elvis Presley)

This was my grandfathers favorite Christmas song. He had a mini jukebox Christmas ornament that would only play this song by one of his favorite artists.

Myself – Secrets – (Beethoven 5^th symphony)

I cry every time I hear this song because I think it’s most beautiful how it was orchestrated. I hear this song and it puts me in a peace of mind.

This is a picture I took when I visited my grandparents’ graves. I endure a peace of mind every time I look up at the clouds.

“So many choices and so many different directions to choose from. Where do I go, where do I turn, what do I do?”

I chose this picture because it best describes my thoughts on a daily basis when it comes to career choices. I am so lost, that it’s hard for me to feel confident that I’ll ever find what I want to do. If ever I figure that out of course.

The type of student I am is a lost student. My current level of confidence about attending college is very slim. I am not being negative, as I am a very positive person who speaks the bluntly honest truth when ask questions. I give realist answers to questions that I know in my heart to be true to my knowledge. I say I am lost because I am 35 years old and have had over 46 jobs if I count all the different 711’s I moved around to as they were all being franchised to independent owners 10 years ago at the time of my employment and they preferred to hire their own employees not the one’s currently working for 711. My confidence is low because I have had so many jobs that I became a job hopper. One year when filing my taxes I had 6 different W 2’s as I was at the time a single mom and working crazy hours at multiple jobs trying to make a living for us.  I also started off as a banquet server at various hotels all over Virginia beach and working for a temp service where they send you to work all over so those are counted in my jobs list as well. Also I had so many jobs because I believe don’t stay somewhere where your not happy. After I had my youngest son, I decided that maybe I just stick with one job no matter what. I stayed working for Rite Aid for almost 6 years and I absolutely hated retail. I was miserable coming to work everyday, but I did it and put on a fake smile and did everything my boss ask me to do. She was very sad and cried when I left. I was her top best and strongest employee she said.

I’ve had so many jobs since I started working when I was 16 that at age 35 I still don’t know exactly what I want to do. You would think that after 46 jobs, possibly even more that I would have some type of idea of what I want to be when I grow up. The only thing I learned from doing all these many of jobs is what I do not want to do for a career and what type of boss I would want to be. Out of all my jobs there was only 2 that asked me to leave. The rest I would stay about 3 months to a year and put my two weeks notice and go somewhere else. After looking back at my many of jobs, I have learned what talents I pose, what strengths I hold, and what are my weaknesses.

As I’ve taken all the online job assessments and stressed over and over again about what I want to do with my life career wise, not knowing has just brought my self esteem way down. I feel as though the only way to possibly increase my confidence levels is if I pray and ask for a clue as to what I’m suppose to be doing, or look for signs that might point me in the right direction but I always get to a dead end. I’ve talk to various counselors and not just the one’s at school. I’ve talked to psychologist and all they seem to do is want to talk and tell me what I’m suppose to be thinking. I thought it was the other way around.

My accomplishments are having two handsome boys, graduating from TCC which took me 5 years going part time, and trying to keep myself together as lost as I am. The only thing I have found to strike my interest is writing. I can write for hours as I started when I was 12 years old. At TCC I was enrolled in many different English courses and was praised for my many of writings throughout the years. One professor asked for my permission to use one of my short stories for future classes. So I know I pose talent in writing, but finding what to do with that is still a mystery. Maybe one day I will have it all figured out.

When I chose my major, I had many years to think about what I wanted to do. I know I want to work with adolescents and small children, but I have yet to decide on what profession I should choose. Looking at the course objectives it’s very easy to understand how important it is to perceive and understand others. Especially small children and adolescents. Their brains are forever changing along with their bodies and hormonal changes, so it would be extremely important to understand their point of views from their stand point. This also goes along with attitudes are formed and changed. You’re not ever going to meet a person that doesn’t have an attitude ever. With young children and teens, it’s changing constantly so often that it can be almost predictable if it was your own children. But for someone whose let’s say a guidance counselor, they see unpredictable mood swings and a variety of different behaviors that they need to be ready to handle at any given moment a student walks in for help. I don’t have a problem with discrimination or prejudice as I have worked with many different types of cultures and have many friends from various backgrounds, but discussing the topic is extremely important specially when working in any type of environment especially human services related. For the last objective I think learning about the factors as to why we would particularly like certain individuals and not others are important. From my perspective, I am not fond, nor do I associate myself with people who are thieves and liars. I am not one to judge others, but I can often sense or feel a certain vibe about someone if they are telling me the truth or not. Now I find myself hard to trust strangers. Working in retail I have seen a lot and heard a lot. It would help to better understand why I feel this way.

My expectations for this course is to learn more about the social aspect of human services. As I am extremely comfortable with working around the youth as they seem to not judge people as people do. They are mostly pure innocent, and most will be openly honest and tell the truth. Even with working with a troubled child, when they trust someone enough to confide in them, they will break down and tell the truth. With adults I feel as though it’s easier for them to judge and lie way much more. I hope to learn techniques and different ways to work with people such as families and build a trusting working relationship with them and with their children. To learn to better understand where people come from and where they have been and help them to where they need to be. I hope to gain the knowledge to have a better direction of what profession I want to pursue.

My strategies to be successful in this course would be to submit assignments on time and not wait till the last minute as I love to procrastinate.